Stop blaming Tommie Harris and look to Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye

Can we stop it with the Tommie Harris bashing? The media is constantly putting players on a pedestal, just so they can bring them back down to earth (how many cycles have we seen of Kobe Bryant portrayed as the greatest player and then degraded b/c he isn't MJ?) It is fair to criticize players like Harris who have high expectations, but not when that criticism is unfounded.

Tommie Harris has been playing injured, but still is the focus of offensive coordinators' game-plans. He's the one getting double teamed every play and he still has 2 sacks, just .5 sacks less than Adewale Oguleye a defensive end paid to rush the passer. We're juding Tommie Harris on sack production, but he's a defensive tackle. Sure sacks are an added plus, but great defensive tackles clog up blockers, demand double teams and stop the run. Isn't that exactly what Tommie Harris and the other DTs have done so far this year? If you look at almost any defensive play, Harris is getting double teamed. He is doing his job, but others aren't.

So where does the blame go? First, Ogunleye, Alex Brown and Mark Anderson for not getting to the QB, despite less double teams. Defensive ends are paid for sack production. At the very least, they should hurry the QB and make him step up in the pocket for DTs to make plays. It doesn't work the other way. For the record, Adewale Ogunleye ("OG"), has 2.5 sacks this year in 9 games. Brown? 3. Anderson? 0. These guys haven't been gettin it done, yet they've escaped the criticism, while Harris is somehow the cullprit. Some sports commentators state that Harris deserves the blame b/c he got the new contract. But didn't he earn it with all those pro-bowls? Even better, aren't OG and Brown being paid to play? OG has put up the following sack totals in his career for the Bears: 5, 10, 6.5, 9 and now 2.5. Alex Brown has totaled the following in his Bear career: 6, 6, 7, 4.5, and now 3. Sorry, that's not getting it done. That's analogous to the sack production of a below-average end, not starting DEs on a great defensive team.

Of course the blame isn't all on them. Unfortunately, there is plenty to go around. It doesn't help that our corner backs play 10 yards off of WRs and provide mediocre QBs the chance to convert 3 step drop patterns for 5-10 yards. Worse, even when we blitz we don't seem to get to the QB. Thus, some blame also rests on guys like Briggs, Urlacher, Mike Brown, etc., who aren't getting to the QB.

Lastly, the coaches are to blame. If you can't get pressure with a blitz, then maybe its the type of blitz calls we're doing that seem to be easily picked up. Moreover, the coaches seem to have implemented a system that allows the teams the easy 5-10 short pass plays that have been killing us.

In my mind Tommie Harris should be acquitted of these false accusations. Lets go after the real guilty parties.